Biographies

Kim Beazley

Ambassador of the Commonwealth of Australia to the United States

Education: Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, University of Western Australia, Rhodes Scholarship for Western Australia (1973); Master of philosophy, Oxford University.

Kim Beazley served in the Australian House of Representatives from 1980 to 2007. He was the leader of the Labor Party and leader of the Opposition from 1996 to 2001, and again from 2005 to 2006. He was also a minister under both Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, most notably becoming deputy prime minister under Keating from 1995 to 1996. In 2007, he was appointed Winthrop Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Western Australia, and in 2008 he was appointed chancellor of the Australian National University, a position he held through 2009. In 2009, Beazley was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia for service to the Parliament of Australia. He became ambassador to the United States in February 2010.